The Murray lab engages in research on human visual perception. We create experiments using a wide range of tools, including computer graphics, stereoscopes, virtual reality headsets, specialized light measuring devices, and hand-made apparatus with carefully chosen materials and lights. We use our findings to develop mathematical and computational models of how people see.

Our recent work centers on lightness perception, which is the perception of achromatic surface colours: black, white, and shades of grey. This fundamental and deceptively simple phenomenon forces us to deal with problems of lighting, 3D shape, stimulus ambiguity, and statistical properties of the visual world. See our research page for overviews of recent and ongoing projects.

Our lab is based in the Centre for Vision Research, a dynamic and interdisciplinary research cluster of over 40 faculty members researching biological and computer vision, in areas ranging from physics and computer science to psychology and design. We have connections to programs in Psychology, EECS, Cognitive Science, Neuroscience, and Biology. We also have ongoing collaborations with local and international laboratories, both academic and industrial.